Connect Issue 16
19 January 2009
Welcome to the latest issue of Connect
Hello and welcome to this issue of Connect.
Next month, IOSH is launching an events-based supplement to
Connect, called Connect Diary, giving you a
better chance of keeping up to date with what’s going on in your
local area and sector.
Connect Diary will be published every second and fourth
Monday of the month to complement Connect, which is sent
to members every first and third Monday of the month. This means
you’ll receive details of your branch and group meetings every
week.
We recently trialled Connect Diary with around 300
members and following positive feedback, we’ve decided to introduce
it to the whole membership on Monday 9 February, so keep an
eye on your inbox!
This issue of Connect features past president Lawrence Waterman, Head of
Health and Safety at the Olympic Delivery Authority, talking about
how low accident rates have contributed to a two-year £250m
tunnelling project being completed on time and on budget.
We also hear from Keith Scott, Head of Safety for
the Royal Mail, about every postman’s worst fear, dog attacks, and
how the recent treacherous weather has affected daily rounds.
In the 60 Second Interview hotseat this week is
Chris Beadle, vice chair of the
Healthcare Group and Occupational Health and Safety Policy Lead for
the NHS in Wales.
As well as our regular features, we have the latest on the 60th
IOSH Annual Conference in March and how unscrupulous employers
can't get away with injuring, maiming and making their staff ill
after the Health and Safety (Offences) Act has now been made
law.
Remember, Connect carries CPD and IPD updates, job alerts in
your area as well as details of the new Professional Course
directory.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Connect. If you have any
comments, or want to be featured in one of our articles, please
drop me a line.
Shaun Gibbons
e-Editor, IOSH
Spotlight: Tunnel vision
With a major phase of construction work for London
2012 now finished, Connect talks to Lawrence
Waterman, Head of Health and Safety at the Olympic Delivery
Authority, about how low accident rates have contributed to a
two-year £250m tunnelling project which
was completed on time and on budget.
When it comes to health and safety stories in the media, let’s
face it: bad news is the only news. And much can be said about
major construction work too, particularly when you consider the
tabloid furore over the Wembley Stadium project, which was far from
on time and on budget.
So maybe it’s of little surprise that one of Britain’s
largest-ever tunnelling projects at London’s Olympic Park,
involving only a handful of reportable accidents, hasn’t had the
positive media coverage it deserves. “The media’s only interested
in bad news when it comes to health and safety,” said Lawrence
wryly.
“However, in some ways, that has helped. All
those involved in the building of the Games know that they’re
working in a goldfish bowl, and have responded positively.”
The latest phase of the London 2012 building project saw two
six-kilometre tunnels being built underneath the Olympic Park,
allowing electrical cables to be laid to power the Games. It took
more than 350 workers just 424 days to complete, with the work
finishing in December 2008. During that time, only seven accidents
were reported – a health and safety record better than the industry
average.
“Out of the seven reportable accidents, two
had minor injuries to the eyes and one contractor hit his finger
with a hammer. People often say construction is a hazardous
industry – and, perhaps, none more so than tunnelling – but if you
approach it in the right way, then there’s no reason why you can’t
get accident rates that are comparable with other industries.”
The Olympic Park project reveals some pretty impressive facts
and figures. It was responsible for 85 per cent of the UK’s
tunnelling for 2008, and four huge 40-tonne boring machines were
used. On top of that, more than 200,000 cubic metres of soil were
excavated during the work – enough to fill Wembley Stadium to the
brim.
According to Lawrence, three major factors lie behind the
project’s impressive health and safety record.
“Firstly, there was a large degree of
planning, which was the starting phase to the whole project.
Obviously, a great deal of health and safety plans and risk
assessments were done and put in place, as well as talking through
the ‘what ifs’.
“Secondly, we looked at communication. This
was key to the success. We put a huge amount of effort into
communicating with the workforce, through toolbox talks,
behavioural safety schemes and other initiatives.
“The recruitment approach also helped play a
major role. Many of the construction workers were taken from the
local area, so there was an emphasis on pride in their work and
they had the opportunity to make a positive contribution to their
community. They were made aware right from the start of the amount
of public interest surrounding the Games and that everything they
did was being watched.”
This, coupled with "gently applied pressure" when it came to
things like correctly wearing and maintaining protective equipment,
meant that a safety culture was quickly established.
“We also shared accident investigations with
the workforce, so lessons were made public and that contributed to
teamwork. This helped keep accident rates down.”
Thirdly, leadership – both from the top and the bottom of the
workforce – was developed.
“There were three senior project managers on the tunnelling
scheme, each with the opinion that accidents will not be tolerated.
There was a high level of leadership commitment throughout the
project from everyone, and that included the workers through to the
ODA chief executive, David Higgins.”
Because of the positive health and safety culture developed
during the project, and in particular through successful
behavioural safety, reports of near-misses were high.
“This prompted us to look at what we could do
to prevent the ‘nearlys’, so to better prevent the ‘actuals’. Our
behavioural safety scheme included incentive schemes and some
contractors operated schemes of their own.”
As well as the tunnelling project, there have been other notable
safety successes across the whole construction of the Olympic Park.
Last year ended with a period of more than 1,700,000 hours
completed without an accident being recorded. The average is more
than a million hours worked for every reportable accident. There’s
also been a big focus on prevention, with drugs and alcohol testing
in regular use.
Considering the Olympic Park is the UK’s largest building
project and that an estimated 3 billion people will be watching the
London 2012 Games worldwide, it’s not surprising that a sense of
pride shared by the workforce has helped drive down accident rates
and, in doing so, has kept ‘bad news’ out of the news.
Factfile:
- Once tunnelling work had been completed, 52 overhead pylons
were removed – the 1,300 tonnes of steel will be recycled
- More than 200 kilometres of electrical cables were installed in
the tunnels – enough to stretch from London to Nottingham
- Once the Games have finished, the underground cables will help
power the ‘legacy communities’, which include houses, shops and
restaurants
- Lawrence Waterman is a past president of IOSH and
a member of the London Met Branch
Links:
Spotlight: First class safety
Most people have heard the jokes about dogs
biting postmen. But it’s no laughing matter when workers end up in
hospital, sometimes for weeks, as a result. Connect talks to Keith
Scott, Group Head of Safety for the Royal Mail, about dog attacks
and how the recent bad weather has had an impact on daily
rounds…
Finding ways to limit the number of dog attacks is high on the
Royal Mail Group's agenda. There were 4,109 attacks recorded last
year - not just in gardens, but on the street too. Keith Scott
explains:
“Because not all attacks happen on private
property, it makes it that much harder for us to resolve the issue.
We train our people and give them briefings but actually stopping
the attacks is tough. If, ultimately, we want to take enforcement
action against persistent, uncontrolled dogs we have a problem
because currently the Dangerous Dogs Act only applies to private
properties.
“We’re working closely with external experts,
such as the RSPCA, to try to understand dogs' behaviour so we can
relay this back to our employees and give them the best advice
possible.”
In August last year, when Keith started at the Royal Mail, he
delivered letters and visited the distribution centres as part of
his induction to get a feel for how everything works.
“I enjoyed delivering letters and going out
with the drivers - I visited all parts of the business across the
country. It was a great way of broadening my knowledge and getting
to see what everyone does, the scale and complexity of the
operation and the types of hazard people can face. I think it’s
essential to visit as many sites as I can to make sure my
understanding of the hazards and risks is as up to date as
possible.”
Winter weather poses its own challenges for delivery workers.
During December and at the beginning of this year there was an
increase in slips, trips and falls because of the snow and icy
conditions.
“We always warn employees about conditions,
provide them with good footwear and advise them to take extra care.
We have over 30,000 vehicles on the road, as well as bicycles and
people on foot so it’s extremely important we keep them
notified.”
Even when the surfaces aren’t slippery, slips, trips and falls
pose an everyday risk. Last year 6,893 RIDDOR-reportable accidents
were recorded.
“Postal workers deliver to roughly 28 million
addresses in the UK every day. The nature of the job, covering vast
distances over variable terrain and carrying pouches poses unique
safety problems. Naturally, you're going to get trips. And even
though we have rules on the weight of the delivery pouches that our
people carry, given the nature of the work we inevitably see a much
greater incidence of musculoskeletal disorders than in other
industry sectors. But surprisingly, paper cuts aren’t that
common!”
When Keith started he was surprised by the things that people
try to post into the UK.
“One of the first unusual things I was given
in the new job was a deactivated hand grenade. It's now a
nice paperweight. All mail coming into the UK is x-rayed so as soon
as anything suspicious is spotted we call in Customs and Excise or
the police.”
Other than Keith – who largely deals with safety – there's a
small team of experts dealing with corporate social responsibility
issues including occupational health, sustainability and the
environment. The Royal Mail has been recognised for its work on
rehabilitation.
“If people have injuries or an illness, then
we do well at getting them the occupational health support and help
they need to make sure they recover and are fit and well enough to
return to work.”
As part of Keith’s role, he gives advice on safety strategy,
providing expert advice for safety issues across the group and
business units. He also heads up any serious or fatal accident
investigations, liaising with external agencies as well as working
alongside accident investigation officers.
“My main objective has always been to
encourage a positive safety culture by showing health and safety
leadership to colleagues. I also aim to continually improve the
group's health and safety management system. Because we have
different business units, sometimes it can be easy for them to feel
quite isolated so I encourage networking and sharing best
practice.”
One way the Royal Mail keeps staff up to date on health and
safety is with regular ‘work time learning and listening’ sessions.
These sessions mean that the teams get focused training but also
the chance to feed back on issues.
“Safety is an absolute priority for us. We're
constantly exploring new ways to give people the skills they need
to make the right safety improvements and build a culture of
safety. On top of our primary concern of safety of all our staff,
we know that a poor culture can mean rising costs, a cut in service
quality and low morale.”
Factfile:
- Keith is a Chartered Member of IOSH
- He is a member of the Public Services Group and the London
Metropolitan Branch
- The Royal Mail was founded in 1660
Links:
The Royal Mail
60 second interview
Christopher Beadle, vice chair of the Healthcare Group and
Occupational Health and Safety Policy Lead for the NHS in Wales,
talks to Connect
What’s one of the most memorable experiences you’ve had
in your health and safety career?
Very early on, a patient scalded themselves to death and I was
involved in the investigation. It’s not something you want to have
to go through again, and it makes you more passionate about not
letting it happen.
What do you get out of your job?
I get a lot of satisfaction from my job. I’ve always been very
people-focused and the biggest reward is looking after our
main asset which is staff.
What issues can you see coming up in your
sector?
We’re currently dealing with violence and aggression towards
staff and the issue of manual handling, but we’re mainly
focusing on our occupational health and well being agenda,
which is building a head of steam.
Would you like to see any legislative changes in your
sector?
I’d actually like to see less of it, especially after a
recent trip to Australia. Over there, they only have two bits of
law that cover exactly what we have here in England.
What approach to your job sets you aside from the
perceived public image of health and safety people being
bureaucratic busybodies?
A bit of risk is healthy, as long as informed decisions are
still made.
It's been estimated that work-related ill health costs
the Welsh economy £500 million a year. What’s being done to combat
this?
The NHS in Wales is working closely with the HSE to
address enforcement. There's also a big review of occupational
health provision to make sure the best care is provided
to workers.
Do you want to be considered for a 60 Second Interview?
Contact the e-Editor.
Quote Me
IOSH gets its message across...
BBC Radio 4 You and Yours
Immediate past president Ray Hurst appeared on BBC Radio 4’s You
and Yours programme alongside adventurer Paul Rose to debate
whether people are turning away from fun adventures and
instead experiencing risk through television. Ray said:
“I think there are lots of health and safety
concerns being aired, but I don’t think it’s us as a profession
that’s causing that. A lot of the decisions that are being made are
by local managers who have little understanding of health and
safety and the first thing that comes to their mind when they want
to stop people doing things is health and safety.
“There was a programme on Channel 4 some time
ago about ‘cotton wool kids’. I notice that the chair of the HSE
made the point that we’re not just breeding youngsters who are risk
averse, but who are risk paranoid because their parents are
frightened to let them out there and have an adventure.
“Our organisation is about sensible,
pragmatic risk assessment and coming up with solutions.”
The Northern Echo
A plea by IOSH President Nattasha Freeman for companies to make
a healthy start to 2009 received wide coverage in many newspapers,
including The Northern Echo. Nattasha said:
“Workplaces should be encouraging people to
lead healthy lives. Research shows that being at work is actually
good for your health, provided you’re not under excessive
pressure.
“We spend a big part of our lives at work and
support from an employer can make a huge difference in helping
people follow a healthy lifestyle.”
Personnel Today
Nattasha has warned that firms which don’t take health and
safety seriously could be in danger of going out of business. She
said:
“Companies that play at health and safety
will find it tough to survive the current economic climate. Those
with poor health and safety practices, or firms that fail to
provide a safe environment for their employees, could face the
prospect of incurring financial penalties at a time when they
really can't afford it.
“We’ve already seen many high street firms
collapse under the financial pressure of the economic climate. One
needless accident during such challenging times could spell the end
for a company.”
Facilities Management UK
Ray Hurst spoke to Facilities Management UK about the
latest HSE statistics. He said:
“Last year, 229 workers were killed in
Britain’s workplaces. Nearly 299,000 workers suffered serious
injuries and over two million developed illness due to work. These
failures cost British business 34 million working days. That’s just
like pouring money down the drain.”
In a separate story, Richard Jones, IOSH’s Policy and Technical
Director, welcomed the HSE’s new strategy consultation. He told the
magazine:
“Health and safety in Great Britain faces
many challenges and it’s vital that all stakeholders understand and
respond effectively to the changing landscape."
But he pointed out:
“The new strategy needs to be clearer about
the role of competent persons in assisting employers to manage
their risks and also the need for the country to take an
evidence-based approach to finding new solutions.”